Not to Be
by Life's-Black-Rose-Petal-Gilly
Summary: Shortly after his wedding, Percy gets called to to a job. Well, of course Annabeth is going. But they need Nico's help. Problem is, Nico is... Nico.
1. To Remember You By

**Not To Be**

* * *

It's Percy. It's fucking Percy Jackson standing in front of him, with his too dark hair and too green eyes.

And even though he's invulnerable, Nico thinks, for just two seconds, that maybe if he runs his sword though him fucking Percy Jackson will die.

Then the huge weight of even just the idea of Percy, the great hero Percy Jackson, being dead and gone hits him like a freight train moving at an impossible speed. So, he settles on just leaning against the apartment door frame, hoping the brief moment of terror hadn't flickered across his face.

"Nico." He sounds out of breath. What could he have possibly been doing? Why stop by here?

"Hey Nico, who's at the door?" One of his roommates, whose hair was darker then Percy's, something Nico didn't know was possible, had leaned back from the couch to see who was making Nico give off the unpleasant aura of anger. "Oh, the hero." He turned to mutter something to the brunette sitting next to him. The words exchanged were brief and in a language Percy hadn't heard before, but anybody with half a brain could tell they were insulting.

Nico knows Percy has heard this voice before. It was the same one that told him that Nico wasn't speaking to him anymore a couple months back. Right after his wedding in fact.

Percy shoots Nico an odd look. "Who are the roommates?"

"Aiden son of Thanatos and Rylee daughter of Hypnos. What do you want Jackson?" Already Nico wished he hadn't given Percy an answer. It wasn't any of his business who he was living with. Forget the fact that monsters swarmed the place at least once a month, it was home, it was warm and most importantly it was in New York.

"I need your help, there's a half blood and monsters and it's all gone-"

"What about Annabeth?" Nico cut him off. One wrong answer and the son of the seas god may be having a chat with his old man.

"Well she's outside." Percy responded immediately, confused as to why Nico even had to ask if his wife was there. Nico frowned and Percy thought for the first time since Nico had stopped all forms of contact with him that maybe he had really pissed off the ghost king. The question was, what had he done?

"I can't be of much help then. Good luck Jackson." And the door was slammed shut.

Percy Jackson had been told by many people that he was a blind fool who could never really quite see what was going on in front of him. So, it was no wonder he had never realized that not only was there Calypso, Annabeth, and Rachel after him, that a small insignificant son of Hades was in that line too.

First it was all of the awkward worrying over him at Camp, then he had showed up at Percy's apartment and stayed there for the entire birthday celebration, then the River Styx, and so many more memories that they crowded his head. Each had Percy, each was painful stab to his chest, each a reminder of just how broken a heart could be. Maybe Nico had just been stupid. After all, he was the last to hear about Annabeth being Percy's official girlfriend. (Looking back, was it really all that surprising? He had assumed they were dating when he first met Percy. But, he preferred not to think about the time when his sister was alive.) But their wedding had been the last straw. Ignorant or not, it had been cruel just to invite him. So Aiden, in a fit of very Aiden-like rage, had called to chew Percy out. Most of the words were in the gibberish of a language Percy didn't under stand. (French.) But the message had gotten across. 'Nico di Angelo is done speaking to you.'

"You okay?" Nico hadn't even known he was sitting on the floor until Aiden was kneeling beside him.

"Never better."

"Bull shit."

* * *

"No Nico?" Annabeth asked.

"Uh, he kind of slammed the door in my face..." Percy shifted from one foot to the other. What had he done?

"Oh gods, Percy you didn't...Percy you couldn't..." Her eyes widened in enlightenment. Percy once again felt out of the loop.

"What?" He asked warily.

"Percy, your head is so full of kelp! You never let him down. Oh, poor Nico!" She looked up at the building, her face worried.

"What?" Percy repeated. He was so confused. Let him down? What was she talking about?

"Nico is fine." Both of the older demigods turned around faster then anyone thought was possible. Standing there was a brunette girl, the on who had been sitting on the couch in Nico's apartment.

"Oh, it's you." Percy said dumbly. Annabeth looked at her, then to Percy and then back at her.

"Who?"

"I'm Rylee, daughter of Hypnos. I've come to take Nico's place in your little quest thing." She strode forward and offered her hand up for them to shake.

Percy and Annabeth shared a glance. Percy knew they needed Nico, but he also knew they didn't have a hope of convincing him when he was angry.

"Okay then. Lets get going."


	2. Gods of Mine, am I Lost in Your Eyes?

**Not to Be**

**AN: Don't complain about my OCs. Nothing will make much sense until the next chapter, so keep your heads on straight.**

* * *

"You are not going after her." Aiden told him, his head stuck inside the fridge as he rooted around for anything edible.

"We can't just let her go with Percy and Annabeth. They have this habit of occasionally forgetting that not everybody went to train at Camp." Nico felt his annoyance grow as Aiden just nodded along with his words, not even bothering to look at him. ""You still aren't going to let me go."

"I don't have to let you. The question is, can you outrun death?"

"Lots of old Greeks have managed to." Nico stated simply. He was still musing with walking out the door, but with each word Aiden said, it became more of a possibility.

"No wonder dad hates you." He flashed him a quick grin to let the younger demigod know that he was joking, before switching to an exasperated look.

"My dad hates you more then your dad hates me." And then they both burst out laughing. Because nobody beats Thanatos when it comes to hate, not even Hades.

* * *

The theory was that maybe Nico would come after her. Why else have her along?

"So, um, what is this quest, adventure, thing about?" Rylee spoke up. Annabeth and Percy glanced at each other. Trust was important on missions, but nobody had ever heard of Rylee. They had heard of Aiden, Thanatos was ridiculously proud of him, but they hadn't heard a word about any child from Hypnos.

"Zeus, Hades and Poseidon have claimed some more demigods." Percy started.

This demigod family stuff was messy. The pact had just screwed it up even further. The end result was that Percy, Thalia, and even Nico himself had more siblings then they had ever wanted. Even though Nico only had two siblings to speak of while Thalia had at least six with who knows how many more out there, they were all in the same boat. Their fathers couldn't keep their word worth shit. (Actually, those were Rachel's words, and she would know.) Trust was not running very high among the demigods and their children lately.

"Nico's siblings." She nodded. Of course she had met them. Why hadn't he thought of that.

"And mine," he told her defensively. He hadn't really been sure of what to say so he had blurted out the most childish thing in his head.

"And Thalia's siblings." Annabeth reminded him. Rylee assumed she was Zeus's daughter, it finished the Big Three thing that was going on here.

"What about them?" Rylee asked, bringing the conversation back to it's original point.

"Well, Thalia's brother has this weird thing against Nico's youngest sister. And I'm telling you, Conor has lost his mind. Or at least we think so." Percy knows he's doing a horrible job at explaining this. But really, he didn't want to tell her much of anything.

"So, we have to go rescue Jilli?" Rylee asked.

"Jillian." Annabeth corrected.

"No, Jilli." Rylee repeated, confident she was right. Percy and Annabeth shared an unsettled glance. Both of the older demigods were pretty convinced that if you even tried to call the second oldest child of Hades, you would be swallowed up and cast into the pits of Tartarus.

"Um, that's right." Percy agreed awkwardly. Rylee grinned.

"Let's keep moving then."

* * *

It wasn't until after they had picked up Thalia that Rylee and Percy were on the same page as Annabeth.

"How's Nico?" Annabeth asked Rylee.

"Okay, but your wedding really pissed him off."

"I told you not to invite him." Thalia said.

"I didn't," Annabeth denied. As a daughter of Athena, of course she had enough brains in her head to realize that nothing but trouble would come out of the son of Hades presence.

"Aiden is good for him. He'll be fine as long as you just don't do anything. He needs time." Rylee insisted.

"Time for what?" Percy spoke up.

"To get over it." She told him.

"Over what?"

"Over you." She said it as though it should have been obvious. "You feeling okay?" How could he not remember that one of his best friends had been in love with him?

"What do you mean over me?" Percy snapped. Rylee's eyes narrowed dangerously.

"He loves you. Well he loved you." And when she noticed that none of her words were rigging any bells she responded with an anger every teenage girl possessed.

"Shit." Annabeth muttered.

"You didn't tell him, did you?" Thalia whispered. Annabeth shook her head. Zeus's daughter whistled in response.

"We're fucked."

"Uh huh."

* * *

"That guy is going to get hit by a bus." Aiden commented.

"What?" Nico whipped around.

"In, like two minutes, that guy over there is going to get slammed by that bus. It's only moving at a couple miles per hour but his jacket gets caught up in the wheels and he's crushed like a Pepsi can." And maybe it was because he could feel people die or maybe it was because deep down he has a death wish himself or maybe it was because his boyfriend could explain every detail of that man's death and not even flinch, but Nico shadow travels over there and back in two seconds flat, taking the almost killed man with him.

"What the fuck?" The guy shouts, clearly startled.

"Oh gods, Nico!" Aiden can feel that something has shifted. A pit of dread is weighing him down.

"I agree. What the fuck?" And a man who had been sitting outside a shop with a newspaper in front of his face stands up and walks over to them. "Care to explain yourself young demigod? Remember, I have no problem offending Hades." The god of death is in their midst and, wisely, the mortal scampers out of there.

"Shit." Aiden mutters, silently sending a quick prayer to Hades. Because shortly there was going to be one less demigod in the world and one more huge problem to deal with.

* * *

When all hell broke loose on their little rescue mission, it came in the form of a daughter of Hypnos. And what damage do you think the god of _sleep's_ offspring actually cause? After all, her father ruled over sleep. Not even dreams like Morpheus, but just gentle sleep.

You change your mind when a demigod from the god of sleep puts you in a dreamless sleep so deep that you're rendered in a coma like state of mind.

"Percy? Percy? Percy!" Annabeth was panicking. He was barley breathing. What had she done to him?

"Rylee, calm down?" Thalia approached the teenager warily.

"He's a jackass. I hope he never wakes up, Hypnos help me." She was glaring at Percy's body. Truly, she was incapable of actually injuring someone. As a peaceful person over all, Rylee could never kill somebody. It made her the perfect fit for owning the power of sleep and normally she owned it well.

"We need him." Thalia told.

"The wold is much better off without him." Rylee shot back.

"He's a hero. It will anger a lot of people if you don't wake him up." Thalia pressed forward.

"So?" And she was such a teenager. Even though they were only a couple years older then here and even though Thalia still appeared fifteen, they had matured a lot faster because of everything they had been through and accomplished.

"Please?" And with a wave of her hand, Percy's eyes fluttered open.

"Thank you," Thalia told here. She nodded stiffly, but that was the last time she spoke to any of them.

"Ow, my head hurts." Percy mumbled sleepily.

"Well, maybe you should have handled that more tactfully, Seaweed Brain." Annabeth told him, sighing with relief.

"Yeah, well note to self: even the invincible are not immune to sleep." He sat up and stretched.

"So don't piss of Hypnos and/or Morpheus or we have no hero." Thalia said offering a hand up.

"I don't plan to." Percy swore.

"Oh gods, we are going to lose him to the gods of dreams and sleep." Annabeth mocked horror. Rylee kept her head down and shuffled after them quietly. She hated him. She really hated fucking Percy Jackson.

* * *

Lightening struck the ground and the solid rock cracked from the sheer force of the blow.

"Bring her back!" A voice shouted. And she whipped around to face the voice's owner.

"I don't have her!" She shouted back.

"Yes you do! You filthy spawn of the underworld, give me my mother back!" And suddenly Conor and Jillian were face to face.

"Lighting Rod, I don't have your whore of a mother and I never did!" She shouted. She regretted her choice of word a second later as another bolt of lightening hit the ground not even an inch away from her. She could feel the crackle of electricity as it danced along her skin.

"Missed." She threw her arm up and a column of rock sent the son of Zeus flying. Quickly, Jillian resumed her search. There was an entrance to the underworld somewhere around here and she had to find it before Conor came back.

* * *

"Um, sorry?" It didn't sound like an apology. Aiden winced

"Nico," he warned.

"No, let the boy speak." Thanatos raised a hand to silence his son.

"Dad." And Nico found something off kilter about this argument. How did you argue with death anyway? It seemed almost silly to try.

"Dad, don't you have some souls to be giving to Charon?"

"Hermes can take over for a little bit."

"Hermes is a busy god."

"Don't I know it." Thanatos snorted. His hair was was brown surprisingly and his eyes were an unsettling red. He was tall and thin. And he looked rather harmless in a black t-shirt and black jeans. However power radiated around him and if you looked close enough, you could see his black wings. Nico, in some burst of ridiculousness, looked Aiden over closely. Still no wings, he breathed a small sigh of relief.

"Oh, you have nothing to be relived about. You took my soul!"

"I won't willingly let someone die, not while I'm here." He shrugged.

"I won't let you meddle in my affairs boy! If you have any will to live, you will keep your nose out of the business of dying." The god thundered.

"Hades wouldn't be pleased if you killed me."

"Hades is a fool. He may rule the dead but he forgets who does the actual killing." Thanatos spit and Nico bristled. He opened his mouth to say something along the lines of Hades being a major god that people actually remember when Hermes rushed in.

"Will you do your job?" He said.

"I'm dealing with unruly demigods." The god of death waved an arm in their direction.

"Oh, hello Nico, Aiden. I'm going to have to steal the fearsome god before you so he can actually continue killing people!" The last part was aimed at Thanatos. Both boys got the feeling that the two gods had come to blows on more then one occasion.

"I'm going!" He spread his wings.

"Wait! We need a favor." Aiden broke in. Both gods stopped their bickering to stare at him.

"What is it?" Hermes asked.

"We need to find Rylee." Nico admitted. Thanatos softened at the mention of his brother's daughter.

"I can take you to her." He said grudgingly.

"No, I'll take them. You have an appointment with an elderly couple in Virginia." Hermes shooed the god out of their mist. When he was gone, he took the young demigods to a small hill.

"Where is she?" Aiden asked.

"Oh she'll get here. Well I got to go. Say hi to Percy and Annabeth for me." And the messenger god was gone.

"There's an entrance to the underworld here." Nico muttered.

"Yeah, and some crazy lightening." Aiden pointed towards the sky a couple miles away.

"Probably some kid of Zeus on a quest." Nico shrugged.

"So I guess we wait here then."

"Yeah. I'm going to go find that passage." Nice started away.

A couple hours later, once Aiden had been out of sight for a couple minutes, he caught sight of a girl. She was tall and skinny, an obvious runner. Nico wondered why she was out here.

"Ah, young son of Hades. It's about time you got here." Nico looked around stupidly.

"Me?" He asked. She huffed.

"What is it about demigods acting like they're not the only one's out here? Yes you." She beckoned him closer.

"What is your name goddess?" He asked.

"Atë, goddess of fools and stupid decisions. I've been banished from Olympus for a long time. Zeus has been very irritated with me."

"I know the feeling." He snorted.

"Yes, well I've come to tell you that I'm tired of hanging around you." She frowned at him.

"Thanks?" Nico could feel his guard rising up.

"Your welcome. The Litae have almost caught me three times now. It would be a huge an embarrassment for a runner like me if I was caught. Now, you need to talk about Percy so you can stop making the same foolish decisions about what to do. So, talk." She folded her arms in a disgruntled manner. Nico looked at her, at a loss.

"Where do I start?" He asked.

"The beginning is a wonderful place."

"I hadn't realized I loved him until he had pushed me up against the wall and there was a sword at my throat," he took a deep breath and dove the rest of the way in, with Atë by his side.


	3. Far, Far Too Young

**Not to Be**

**AN: Last chapter. Thanks to everyone who read my scary idea of a fic. But I kind of had to write this so I could finally get to real Percy/Nico. Keep an eye out, I'll be slashing among the PJ fandom later. (And if after you read this, you find you are very concerned about what goes on between my OCs - though I _seriously_ doubt you care - I may make a short one shot to wrap up their fates.)**

* * *

It was an increasing feeling of dread that had been growing in the pit of Aiden's stomach since Nico had saved the nameless man that urged the son of death into climbing the hill. Something was calling him forward. He supposed it was the entrance to the Underworld, after all that was his father's job - he takes souls straight to Charon - so of course he visited the numerous entrances a lot.

Aiden knew, with the same kind of knowing as one knows how to walk, that he should wait for Nico.

But that lightening was really strange. So up the hill he went. And it was probably as smart as purposely starting World War 3.

* * *

Atë stared at Nico for a long time.

"Maybe I was doing too good of a job this time." She muttered.

"Oh shut up." He snapped.

"Or it could partly be Aphrodite's fault. I suppose I could ask Eros." She continued, as if he hadn't said anything at all.

"Do all of the minor gods know each other?" He complained.

"And goddesses." She corrected him.

"Not my question."

"Yes, we aren't going to get recognition alone, are we?"

"Oh never mind. And dad wonders why I don't date woman." Nico grumbled.

"Hold your tongue demigod." Atë said demigod like it was an insult. Which, since they got more screen time with her father then she ever did, it probably was. "This is exactly why I'm sick of sticking around you! At least Rylee had an ounce of respect in her."

"Why are you visiting Rylee?" Nico felt the creeping feel of worry enter his mind. What was that girl up to?

"Everybody seems to hate Percy Jackson these days, but forget about that. I want to know if you're ready to go and make the right decision. So, are you?" She stood up and put her hands on her hips, glaring at him as if daring him to answer incorrectly. It was a scary impersonation of Zeus, except she didn't have nearly as much power in her hands. Or maybe she did. One foolish decision _could_ destroy your entire life.

"Not yet." Nico never really did have the common sense to be scared.

"Well I'm gone and if I ever see you again when it comes to your state of affairs with Percy Jackson, mark my words, you, Nico Di Angelo, will have the worst luck this side of the underworld!" With that Atë sped away.

"Well fuck you!" Nico muttered. What did she expect him to do? He stared at the direction she had went, as lost as ever, until a trio of wrinkly woman passed by. The Litae.

"Have you seen that ridiculous excuse of a goddess Atë?" One croaked at him.

He jerked his thumb in the opposite direction that she had run off in. "You just missed her." They fled, arguing among themselves about how Zeus always liked her best.

Nico knew what he had to do, knew how he had to do it. Kind of like how you knew how to walk.

* * *

"He is good." Thalia commented.

"Well, lets hope he's not to good. If Jilli gets killed, he won't have to worry about Hades, he won't be awake to aware of it." Rylee frowned and started to hike up the hill.

"Alright, how about we don't do anything to my brother. Then I won't be obligated to fry your ass."Thalia said, in a mock polite tone.

"I'd love to see you try." Rylee snapped back.

"I can't tell if they've become really good friend, or really good enemies." Annabeth mumbled, so only Percy could hear her.

"Doesn't matter, Thalia always switches it up." He replied. Both appeared to be teenage girls around fifteen in age and even though Thalia was about a good five years older then Rylee, it wasn't always obvious which one could have been the older one.

"Looks like Jillian has been here." Annabeth commented, raising her voice so that the two bickering demigods in front of them could was pointing at a column of rock at least twice the size of Percy.

"She's good too." Thalia said.

"Hell yeah." Rylee grinned. Annabeth chuckled. And then the earthquake hit them.

It wasn't anything big but a small rumble but it sure beat the light tone their lack of urgency had until it was black and blue and as not light as it could possibly be.

"Hey wait!" Thalia shouted, taking off after Rylee, who had launched into a run worthy of Atë and Hermes as she went up the hill.

Suddenly, she froze and soon Thalia was standing next her. And when Percy and Annabeth caught up, all four were staring at the worst excuse for a valley they had ever seen.

The ground below was just rock, moving rock and lightening hit everywhere and everything with increasing frequency. It was hell on earth, minus the fire. And right in the middle of it stood Conor and Jillian.

* * *

Nico ran right into Aiden as he stormed up the hill.

"Oh thank gods you are still here." Nico gasped, leaning over to catch his breath.

"Uh yeah. So... I have to get to the top of this hill, it's just that. I've got to move." Aiden started to move up again when Nico grabbed his hand.

"Wait, wait." And suddenly he was kissing him like there was nothing wrong. But of course, both of them now had that sinking feeling of dread and both really needed to go and fix whatever was causing it.

"Sorry for everything." Nico said pulling away and dashing the rest of the way up the hill.

"Whats everything?" Aiden said. Then he repeated himself, shouting this time. "Whats everything?" But Nico had already made it up over the crest of the hill, thrusting himself in the middle of whatevr was going on.

* * *

"Rylee." Percy had grabbed the teenagers arm, preventing her from charging straight into the middle of the fight.

"Let go of me Jackson." She growled.

"Rylee, we have to think about this. We need a plan." Annabeth explained.

"I don't," Percy said.

"Well, I'm sorry we all aren't invincable like you, but some of us plan on coming out of this alive, so just wait."

"Or we could use Nico." Rylee said, a sudden smile gracing her face.

"Of course we could use him. Why do you think I wanted him along?" Annabeth snapped, face scrunching up in concintration. Thalia clenched her fists, her paitence growing thin.

"Any ideas of how we could get in there without being crushed?" She asked.

"I'm working on it."

"Or _we could use Nico_." Rylee stressed.

"Well Nico isn't here!" Annabeth snapped. No sooner had the words left her mouth, did Rylee throw her arms around a tall, gangly teenager with long black hair. It was Nico, and right behind him was another boy she had never seen before. Great, so many demigods and nothing to do with them.

"Why didn't you say it was my sister?" Nico glared daggers at Percy, after letting go of Rylee. (She had moved on to hug Aiden anyways.)

"You didn't give me a chance." Percy defended himself.

"You are one of the most stubborn people I know, nothing prevented you from kicking my door down and telling me about your stupid plan anyways!" Nico snapped. He was face to face with the son of the sea god, and suddenly everybody who had only really known Nico as a small twelve year old boy, realized that he was just as tall as Percy, if not taller. When had he grown up?

"I don't have death wish, Di Angelo." Percy bit out. If Nico wanted to play the last name game, that was fine by him.

"Like hell, _Jackson_."

* * *

"You are such a _creep_." Jillian muttered, sending rock after rock flying torwards her opponent. Maybe if she concentrated hard enough, she could send one of the bigger ones after him.

"Where is she?" Conor thundered.

"I don't have her!" She shouted, whipping around and trying with all her might to get the boulder flying. He raised his hand and sent a powerful bolt of lightening to destroy it.

"Give me her." Conor demanded, pulling her closer to his face.

"Fuck off!" Jillian shouted, anger pouring more power into her veins.

It was then that the skeletons joined the party.

* * *

"Okay, Annabeth we've got to move!" Thalia shouted.

"I'm still thinking!" She told them.

"It's to late for that!" Percy told her, leaning forward to kiss her. "Please don't help until you think it's safe. Please?"

"Ugh, Jackson, you've got no time for that, you have to come and save my sister." Nico said coldly. And it was probably the incredably sad and knowing look that sent Nico over the edge.

Right before they charged off, he grabbed a fistful of Percy's shirt and had smashed his mouth against the older demigod's.

"Hi, I'm Aiden, Nico's boyfriend."Aiden stuck his hand out.

"Annabeth, Percy's wife." Annabeth clenched his hand much harder then he would have liked.

"Now, lets go save my sister." Nico pulled away, still looking furious. And because they were boys, both managed to run straight in the middle of the fight without a second thought. Thalia was right behind them.

"Rylee, I've got a plan!" Annabeth shouted, grabbing the teenager's wrist and dragging her to the left, right towards Conor's blindside. Aiden stood there for a couple minutes. And right around when the small war zone was blocked out by a completely personal patch o rain did Aiden go diving into the fight himself.

* * *

_A week later_

"So, Aiden seems okay." Percy said awkwardly.

"Yeah, he's pretty..." Nico trailed off trying to find the right word. Because the fact was, Aiden was pretty much his and that's all that mattered anymore.

Percy raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything. The silence stretched on, neither boy wanting to really say much of anything.

Nico had been avoiding talking to Percy like the plague and Percy had been almost to happy to go along with it. So, Nico spent a lot of time with his arms around Jillian, as if daring anybody to drive her away again, and Percy spent a lot of time just doing things. He cleaned stables, he practiced with swords, he let Annabeth try to convince him to go talk to Nico. (Because even married, they were still Annabeth and Percy. The most most argumentative couple on the face of the earth.) Nico would talk to him when he wanted to, besides Percy didn't have anything to say really. As it was, it took the entire week before Nico had decided to approach the son of Poseidon and here they were.

"I love you." Nico muttered.

"So they tell me." Percy said, his voice sounding more like a whisper then regular speaking tone.

"Yeah." It was quiet again. Suddenly, Nico leaned over and kissed him.

"Gods, you have _got_ to stop doing that!" Percy said, pulling away.

"Yeah," Nico rolled his eyes, "we're even. I'll see you around Perce."

* * *

_Two years later_

There was a knock on the door. Somewhere deep within the hallways, Aiden groaned.

"Rylee, it's your turn." Nico said, not looking up from his book.

"Is not." Rylee replied. Both took the time to glare at each other, very briefly leaving their textbooks neglected.

"Nico, get the door!" Jillian shouted from the kitchen. Nico groaned. That was easier for her to say, she was the only one who didn't have schoolwork to attend to. The knock was repeated, this time louder and more persistent.

"Nico!" Aiden and Rylee screeched in unison. Very childishly, the Ghost King stuck his tounge out at them before answering the door.

"Jackson." He said, a smirk playing across his face.

"Di Angelo." Percy replied, grinning.

"Hey Nico." Annabeth sighed, shoving a duffel bag into his hands.

"How long do you think you'll be long this time?" Nico asked, taking a sleeping little T.J. from her father's hands.

"A week?" Percy looked at Annabeth, unsure.

"Two to be safe." She confirmed. Rylee showed up and stole the toddler from his hands.

"Oh, T.J. sitting!" She whispered, excited.

"I love you," Percy called after her.

"I love you too." Nico replied cheekily. Annabeth groaned.

"Thanks Nico." She said.

"Yeah, thanks man." Percy echoed. Nico smirked.

"Mmm hmm, see ya around." He shut the door.

"Why do we leave her with him?" Annabeth asked when they were finally outside.

"He's my secret gay lover, what are going to do?" He shrugged and sighed as if it was the most normal thing in the world.

"Oh shut up!" She punched him in the shoulder, because, gods, that so _wasn't_ funny.


End file.
